Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat rebounds against Marco Belinelli #8 of the Chicago Bulls in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

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CHICAGO (AP) -- The way this series is turning out, it's hard to believe the Miami Heat ever trailed the Chicago Bulls.

They're running away with the Eastern Conference semifinals, and another performance like this will end it.

LeBron James scored 27 points and the Heat nearly matched a franchise record for fewest points allowed in a playoff game, pounding the listless and short-handed Bulls 88-65 on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

"We just worked as hard as we could on defense," Chris Bosh said. "After the Game 3 performance, we really didn't feel like we did a very good job. We just wanted to have more energy today and concentrate on our coverages a lot better."

Well, how's this for a result?

The 65 points allowed were only two more than the all-time postseason low for a Miami opponent, and it was easily the worst offensive performance by a Chicago team in the playoffs.

Never before had the Bulls scored fewer than 69 in a playoff game nor 10 or less in a quarter during the postseason, but both those marks fell on a night when they were dominated on both ends of the floor.

Miami led by 11 at the half and put this one away in the third quarter, outscoring Chicago 17-9 in the period.

Now the Heat will try to wrap up the series at home Wednesday night, taking what they hope will be the next step toward a second straight championship.

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